Agoura City Councilmembers Visit Every Restaurant In Town

AGOURA HILLS, CA — As restaurants reopen in fits and spurts, Agoura Hills leaders embarked on a grand tour this week of their city’s restaurants to check in on their progress.

“It kind of makes me choke up,” Mayor Ilece Buckley Weber told Patch while reflecting on the optimism and perseverance she witnessed from restaurant owners and servers. “It’s been so hard for everybody. But the servers are overjoyed, they’re bubbly and excited to have us back – they’re so glad to be open.”

Mayor Buckley Weber joined the city’s four other councilmembers this week to visit every single one of the city’s 38 registered eating establishments. Buckley Weber said that this ambitious goal began when Community Development Director Ramiro Adeva said in a council meeting that this was something his staff planned to do in order to hear from restaurants about their progress and concerns, and educate them about ways that the city is helping its small businesses.

Buckley Weber volunteered, and soon the whole City Council joined her.

Councilmembers visited both restaurants in all stages of the reopening process, including those that have not yet opened for indoor or outdoor dining.

“Most of the businesses I visited were actually not open for in-restaurant dining or even outdoor dining yet, but they were getting ready for weekend openings,” said Councilmember Deborah Klein Lopez. “I think people don’t realize that it takes time for the reopening process to take place. Tables and chairs have been stacked for months and need to be power-washed, the layout needs to be changed, workers need to get rehired, etc. It takes a lot of effort.”

Klein Lopez added that many of the restaurants she visited did not know about the city’s emergency June 4 ordinancethat allowed restaurants to apply for free temporary outdoor dining permits. Under the ordinance, restaurants can provide or expand outdoor dining on private outdoor property and public areas. Councilmembers attended with a member of city staff, who left each restaurant with a folder containing a permit application, a business card to the city office that can help them, information on the latest health ordinance and reopening protocols, and more.

Restaurant owners voiced other concerns as well: Mayor Pro Tem Denis Weber said that restaurants talked about how they wanted the city to relax its regulations on signage and lighting to let people know that they’re open. Councilmember Chris Anstead said that some owners expressed frustration that their landlords have not lowered the rent.

Mayor Buckley Weber said that the Council is considering extending their eviction moratorium past the original May 31. Buckley Weber and Councilmember Linda Northrup both pointed out that the City Council also recently approved a $30,000 contribution to the Conejo Chamber of Commerce micro-grant program, which awards $2,500 to businesses in the Conejo Valley. Businesses do not need to be members of the Chamber of Commerce in order to qualify for a grant.

Buckley Weber said that she was pleased to see restaurants taking proper precautions to ensure social distancing, and that when she went to eat outdoors, she felt comfortable.

“I’m a little nervous about dining inside, to be perfectly honest,” she said. “I have gone to some of our places and had something to eat outside, and I’ve not been turned off by a single one of them. Everyone’s wearing face coverings until they’re eating, servers are wearing face coverings, there’s the Plexiglas in places that I’ve seen. I feel pretty comfortable, and I’m a little nervous about the whole thing. I think they’re all taking it pretty seriously, which is reflective of the Agoura Hills community.”